I shoot vertical/portrait for tandems. My RRS mount can go either way, however. I like vert, because it allows me more angle control for when I want to tilt my head sideways for a horizontal shot and all angles in between. I know some folks really don't like vert, but for tandems, it works well. Funny story, I used to shoot with my stills upside down on the front of my FTP. Had two customers two years ago call to complain that photos were "upside down." DZO told em' to flip their printer over.

Did you get your shoe back? That's the reason I don't fly on my back, can't afford to have students stealing my shoes all the time, and I don't have the skills yet.

Yes, I got it back 99% of the time. I used to have them do it a lot. I've done it at least 100 times... I always had really worn out shoes, so wasn't too worried about it. Notice the hole in my toe of the previous photo. But then I lost one, then another one, and I was done with that game. Not to mention, landing downwind in the dirt, on a 78 with my camera helmet and a weight belt, one time made me realize it'd be nice to have both shoes. I never was very good at slalom skiing.

Sometimes the instructor would grab me and take it while the student was oblivious. That was pretty funny. He'd hand it to the student after opening, saying, "Here hold this."

When goggles fly up, I don't think that's funny at all... It's a pet peeve of mine when TMs fail to tighten the goggles properly (seems to be the same TMs a lot, and seems to happen with the goggles with 'soft edges' the most) it can totally ruin a passenger's jump. While this girl didn't seem to have much trouble with it, I've videod a few people who were fighting to SEE during the entire freefall. Looks crappy on video and shows bad form IMO. Never mind should you have a passenger with contacts or lasered eyes, or in winter cold or rain/ice in the air.

If a passenger complains about goggles being too tight, explain that they SHOULD be tight!

I just take pictures too, but I will tell/signal the TM if I see the goggles not being tight enough in the plane (not often easy to spot though), and definitely tell him after the jump. I think the well-being of the passenger I film, insofar as I can do something about it, IS part of my job as a vidiot.

Also have to watch for the ends of the goggle straps not getting tucked in good after they're tightened. The belly band sometimes gets too tight after they tighten the lowers, I don't like to wait for them to finish throwing up so I can talk to them after landing.